iPhone Comes Second to Aston Martin in Cool Brands: Update

Although the iOS faithful would have you believe the iPhone is the coolest brand in the world, here in the United Kingdom the iPhone is no longer the coolest of brands to own according to the latest UK Cool Brands index, and is now only the second coolest brand.

According to The Telegraph, the iPhone was toppled from its number one cool brands position by none other than a car brand that is almost 100 year old, the Aston Martin.

Much of the Aston Martin’s fame is attributed to the original James Bond movies, however one does have to say there’s something quite classy about owning an Aston Martin.

The chairman of the CoolBrands Council, Stephen Cheliotis says, “Traditional favourites continue to challenge new, cutting edge brands, which is reflected perfectly by the return of Aston Martin as the coolest brand despite close attention from iPhone. Aston Martin combines three key elements – power, beauty and soul. Its sleek, polished and sexy cars ensure the brand continues to dominate the list of the nation’s coolest brands, as judged by experts and consumers alike.”

The top five Cool Brands are now as follows, Aston Martin at number one, the iPhone takes second place with the iPod in third, fourth position goes to BlackBerry while fifth place is Bang & Olufsen. Interestingly, Google comes in at eighth position while Apple sits at the thirteenth slot with YouTube coming in fifteenth position.

So there you go, the iPhone doesn’t command the Cool Brands title any longer, anyway I’d much rather own an Aston martin over an iPhone if I could afford it, wouldn’t you?

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Update: We had an email today, which said –

Hi Mark,

I noticed your post on CoolBrands; however it is actually based on last year’s results! The official 2011/12 CoolBrands top 20 is listed at the bottom of this email.

There is an interesting angle in this year’s results, which reveal perhaps surprising insight into the shrinking gender gap between male and female interests – when it comes to their preferred brands, women are as much enamoured by automotive and technology brands as men.

Iconic British sports car manufacturer, Aston Martin, has accelerated past Apple, Nike, Rolex and Nintendo, and is officially named the coolest brand in the UK for the second year running in the influential annual CoolBrands list. Now in its tenth year, the list follows a vote by a combination of 2,000 consumers and a panel of 36 designers, style experts, media personalities and prominent figures from the worlds of TV, fashion and music. Helping rate coolness this year were the likes of Jessie J, Ben de Lisi, Lisa Snowdon, Rob da Bank, Sadie Frost and Kelly Hoppen.

Co-ordinated by The Centre for Brand Analysis, the prestigious CoolBrands list is drawn from over 10,000 independently identified brands and whittled down into a shortlist of 1,500. The panel of 36 influencers score each brand, bearing in mind factors such as style, innovation, originality, authenticity, desirability and uniqueness, before more than 2,000 members of the British public give their ratings. The views of both the panel and consumers have been combined to produce a list of the 500 brands most highly rated.

The official 2011/12 CoolBrands top 20 is:

1.Aston Martin

2.Apple

3.Harley-Davidson

4.Rolex

5.Bang & Olufsen

6.BlackBerry

7.Google

8.Ferrari

9.Nike

10.YouTube

11.Alexander McQueen

12.Dom Pérignon

13.PlayStation

14.Ray-Ban

15.Chanel

16.Nintendo

17.Vivienne Westwood

18.Agent Provocateur

19.Tate Modern

20.Maserati

However, the consumer vote reveals perhaps surprising insight into the shrinking gender gap between male and female interests – when it comes to their preferred brands, women are as much enamoured by automotive and technology brands as men.

Both sexes have rated Harley-Davidson their most popular brand, whilst Ferrari and Porsche feature in both the female and male top ten. It seems women too are technology driven, with 47 per cent voting Apple their most popular brand, whilst 44 per cent voted for BlackBerry. Interestingly, girls also like gaming, with 44 per cent rating Nintendo as their most popular brand.

When it comes to male versus female opinions amongst the 2,000 consumers surveyed, the top ten are:

Stephen Cheliotis, Chairman of the CoolBrands Expert Council, said: “Cool is subjective and personal, but being identified as a CoolBrand by the British public and a panel of influential opinion formers implies it is a brand that most Brits wish to own. Votes are based on a wide criteria of factors, but these brands are clearly delivering cool in the eyes of consumers and influencers alike.”